The Pseudo-Reading Stage: The Timothy Experiment

Timothy with a book inside the Cebu City Public Library. Photo by the Basadours.

Jeanne Chall’s Stages of Reading Development noted that between
six months to six years old – called Stage 0 or
Pre-reading/Pseudo reading stage – children “pretends” to read by
retelling stories as they flip through the pages of books
previously read to them.

That’s happening to our Nicholas and Antoinette these days,
although we are seeing a difference in the way they handle their
books. Our boy still “eats” a book and enjoys munching its sides
while our girl puts a copy down on the floor and points at
pictures that catch her attention.

Each child develops at different paces. Your pediatrician would
have given that information to you by now. Generally though, at
18 months of age, a child learns 10 new words each day. But there
is a way for us, parents, to positively influence our children to
learn at a young age. And it may start in the form of reading
aloud to them.

Jeanne Chall, the name I will mention repeatedly in this entry,
is an educational psychologist and literacy researcher . I am
learning so much from her as I continue to tread on the path of
understanding what reading is like to children.

Three years ago, before I was acquainted to Chall’s work, I
experimented on my nephew, Timothy Uriel, whom I first exposed to
books and storytelling when he was barely a month old. I told him
his first story while his mother was breastfeeding him. When he
was about seven months old, I took him to bookstores and
libraries. From eight months onwards, I had him attend
storytelling sessions and allowed him to help me arrange books in
my reading nook. We saw the impact of these activities on him as
we observed him carry a book around the house with much care as
he finds a corner to “read” it.

When his twin cousins (my son and daughter) were born, he
immediately took it upon himself the role of being their
storyteller. We have recorded several videos of him reading to
them and they do prove Chall’s claim that at pre-reading stage,
children recognizes some signs, names letters of alphabets, and
plays with books, pencils, and papers. You can find one of them
here.

Chall said that at pre-reading stage, reading is acquired by
having an adult (or an older child) read to the child. Learning to
read is further facilitated if the adult responds and warmly
appreciates the child’s interest in books and reading.

I am part of group called Basadours where we promote the
love of reading through storytelling. Several times, I have been
asked the question: “Why storytelling to promote reading?” The
answer? Because storytelling is one platform in making children
love reading. With storytelling, children listen and from there
we see the relationship between reading and storytelling.
Storytelling is the bridge that enables our children to love or
appreciate reading.

Chall said: “Most children understand pictures and stories read
to them. They understand thousands of words they hear by age 6
but can read few if any of them.”

This is the case with Timothy. He now goes to school, and his
mother (my sister, Stephanie) has no problems in making him do his
school work. He loves his books and asks that we buy him more. We
still take him to storytelling sessions so he can interact with
more children. We encourage him to retell and share stories to his
classmates. We always make sure to tell him how important books
are. He carefully arranges them in his backpack and often times,
prevents people from taking them out of his bag without
permission.

What to read to kids at this age? Go for picture books – that
means, big pictures with fewer words. My recommendations are the
following:

* Spot Goes to the Farm by Eric Hill
* Who’s Sick Today by Lynne Cherry
* Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
* The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
* Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
* Once Upon A Potty by Alona Frankel
* Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Bill Martin Jr.

These books can be read within 10 minutes so REALLY, it doesn’t
take much of your time.

Your child may not give you verbal responses such as “Oh Mama,
that is a wonderful story!” but they will often give you
non-verbal cues such as smiling, giggling or clapping (that’s
what Antoinette does these days).

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